From banker to politician, and still the money comes rolling in...
HE made his fortune in finance before joining the SNP’s army of MPs in the General Election landslide.
But former investment banker Ian Blackford has not let his new job get in the way of his talent for making money.
House of Commons data reveals he earns the equivalent of £777 an hour for his second job with Golden Charter Trust – despite SNP rules that being an MP is ‘a full-time commitment’.
Before last year’s election, Nationalist MP Pete Wishart told the Commons: ‘No SNP Member has a second job, a directorship or a place on a company. Our responsibilities here are our sole concern and our only responsibility.’
But after the election, 15 of the original 56-strong SNP group were discovered to be holding down second jobs, directorships or significant shareholder stakes in private companies and other organisations.
On top of his role with Golden Charter Trust, Mr Blackford is also chairman of Edinburgh-based telecommunications network provider Commsworld, earning him an extra £1,000 a month for eight hours a quarter.
With an MP’s basic salary now £74,000, he supplements that with more than £35,000 from his other jobs. The SNP group at Westminster was, however, instructed to hand a recent £7,000 pay rise to charity.
Mr Blackford, who once ran Deutsche Bank’s operations in Scotland and the Netherlands, is also a director of First Seer Ltd. It runs his family’s crofting business and ‘ancillary activities’, which includes two properties that until last September were used for holiday lettings – bringing in at least £10,000 a year.
As well as his croft, he has a house in Lanark, shareholdings in Commsworld and a ‘miscellaneous investment portfolio’.
Taxpayer-funded expenses go to his stepson John O’Leary, who acts as his caseworker.
Commons records show he accepted a £3,000 donation from a major Tory donor, hedge fund boss David Craigen, in the run-up to the election.
An SNP spokesman said: ‘Mr Blackford’s employment has been declared and is in line with Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) rules.’
Mr Blackford’s Lib Dem predecessor as Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP, Charles Kennedy, died in June, shortly after losing his seat in the election, when he suffered a haemorrhage linked to alcoholism.
Three weeks before polling day, Lib Dem activists called the police after Mr Blackford, and four other people appeared at the door of their campaign headquarters.
He was furious that Mr Kennedy’s campaign literature had described him as ‘a wellfunded banker from Edinburgh’, which he insisted was inaccurate. Activist Candy Piercy described Mr Blackford as ‘angry, aggressive and unpleasant’.
Mr Kennedy was trolled by ‘cybernats’ – including an SNP official who later quit the party in disgrace. Brian Smith was working for Mr Blackford when he sent vile online messages to the former Lib Dem leader, branding him ‘a Quisling’ and ‘a drunken slob’.
Mr Kennedy’s family and colleagues were so upset by the tone of the SNP campaign that Mr Blackford was banned from attending the funeral.
The MP was once SNP treasurer and was famously embroiled in a furious row with Alex Salmond. In 2000, as Mr Salmond was standing down as SNP leader for the first time, there was an explosive intervention by Mr Blackford, who claimed he had abused party finances.
He alleged Mr Salmond had submitted taxi expenses of up to £1,000 a month.
Earlier in the year, Mr Salmond had suspended Mr Blackford following allegations he had failed to keep the party properly informed about finances. Mr Blackford accused Mr Salmond of ‘political cowardice and control freakery’, while Mr Salmond accused him of being ‘a busted flush’.
Mr Blackford was a prominent campaigner during the referendum campaign, reinforcing his position on the Right of the party by arguing an independent Scotland should abolish capital gains tax.
The SNP had already proposed cutting corporation tax to attract businesses, a policy abolished by Nicola Sturgeon.
At a time when the UK Government had increased capital gains tax from 18 per cent to 28 per cent for the wealthiest in society, Mr Blackford argued that a zero rate in Scotland would act as a magnet for investment, sending out ‘a very important signal that Scotland is entrepreneurial and open for business’.
A furious row with Salmond